1. Victim of 1983 murder in Orange County identified as Panamanian woman
2. Victim of 1983 homicide in Orange County identified as Panamanian female.
Accident – Death – Obituary News : The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has made a breakthrough in a decades-old cold case, finally identifying a woman who was found dead more than 41 years ago. It was in April 1983 that children playing in a storm drain near Canada and Old Trabuco roads in what is now Lake Forest stumbled upon a human skull, sparking an investigation that would last for over four decades.
An excavation at the site led to the recovery of approximately 70% of a female’s remains, with an anthropology examination revealing that the victim was a Black or mixed-race female aged between 18 to 24 years old, with a slight build and a distinctive gold tooth. Despite efforts over the years, the victim remained unidentified until recently.
In 2022, investigators submitted a DNA sample of the victim to a laboratory in collaboration with the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, resulting in a successful genetic profile. This profile was then used in genetic genealogy investigations with the FBI, but a direct family line could not be established.
However, in late 2023, a breakthrough occurred when a distant relative of the victim suggested posting renderings of the victim to a Facebook group for unidentified murder victims and missing women from the 1970s and 1980s. Following this lead, a woman came forward and identified the victim as her missing mother, Maritza Glean Grimmett, a native of Panama.
Grimmett had married a U.S. Marine in 1978 and relocated to the United States shortly after, settling in Ohio and Tennessee. However, by July 1979, Grimmett, then 20, began divorce proceedings and informed her sister of her intention to go to California. Sadly, her family never heard from her again.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is now actively investigating Maritza’s homicide, as her killer remains unidentified. Anyone with information regarding her death is urged to contact Investigator Bob Taft at 714-647-7045 or submit information to coldcase@ocsheriff.gov. Anonymous tips can be provided to O.C. Crime Stoppers at 1-855-847-6227 or through www.occrimestoppers.org. This breakthrough in identifying a long-lost victim brings hope for closure and justice in a case that has remained unsolved for over four decades..
– Victim of murder in Orange County
– 1983 murder in Orange County identified as Panamanian woman.
